Journey of Life
by NabikiB
Summary: When a massive earthquake shatters the peace of their every day lives, one young woman on a hunting trip finds herself responsible for two clans worth of women and children whose mates were killed during the quake while on a joint hunt by the terrified, stampeding bison they were tracking. Descended from Ayla and Jondalar, young Kanna has her hands full. AU/AR
1. Beginnings

**Background:** Three generations have passed since Alya and Jondalar finally died of old age, surrounded by friends, extended family and a community that would miss them. Horses and wolves are common now and the Zelandonii territory is massive. The Clan are no longer referred to as animals, just a different kind of human and most people know enough of their language to communicate pretty well. The Clan understands that the female Others are not bound by Clan traditions regarding women and the Others do not expect them to change the way the Clan behaves within their own communities.

**Summary:** When a massive earthquake shatters the peace of their every day lives, one young woman on a hunting trip finds herself responsible for two clans worth of women and children whose mates were killed during the quake while on a joint hunt by the terrified, stampeding bison they were tracking. Descended from Ayla and Jondalar, young Kanna has her hands full as she embarks on her own journey of understanding the world she lives in. EARTH'S CHILDREN, AU/AR.

* * *

**Journey**

* * *

The young woman slowly got to her feet when the ground finally ceased to shake and jolt around, calming her horses took a while but eventually she managed it. Her two mated wolves, Tara and Kep were still whining a little but soon settled down as she checked her travois and made sure nothing was loose. She was very glad both horses had still each been on a short line attached to a picket pin hammered into the hard ground. Though both mares had reared and tried to run away, the strong rope attached to their halters had prevented it, their foals had fallen to the ground during the quake, and were only now rising to their feet, staying near their dams. She picketed both youngsters anyway.

She left one wolf to guard one mare and both foals, calling the female wolf to her while leaving her mate to guard the horses. After an earthquake, prey animals were often in shock, too terrified to react, not even running away and she intended to see if she couldn't get a large animal, like a deer, before they recovered their natural wariness.

A few hours later, she had two young bucks skinned and cut up, both drying in the sun. It would be a few days, she knew as she set up her travel tent, but getting provisions while she had a very good chance of a kill had been smart. While the horses rested and grazed on their lines and the wolves guarded both the horses and her belongings, Kanna got a gathering basket and went to see what was growing here that she could use. Vegetables dried more quickly than meat and if she could lay in a few weeks worth of dried vegetable foods to shore up her supplies, that would be a good thing. Then it would be time to return to the large system of caves that she had found and had been dwelling in alone, to see if the quake had left them useable or not. She sure hoped so, she was far from home...or any other recognized territory of her kind of people...and had been preparing for a winter spent alone except for her siblings. These wolves pups were at the cave with her two sisters and a much younger brother. The four were all that remained of a Cave that had suffered the bad luck of having a lazy leader who didn't do his job...and even _lazier _adults. While Kanna and her siblings had weathered last winter pretty well due to hard work, many of their Cave had starved.

They had done what they could, feeding the other children enough to keep them alive, but as their Cave didn't have a donier, there was no one to scold the leader or the hunters. They had discussed their options once Spring came, gathered their belongings, bonded wolves and their horses and simply left without warning. Some of the older children whose parents had died from starvation had gathered up what belongings they'd had, and followed. _That _Cave was a bad luck Cave. Kanna's group had stopped by another Cave, the Third, to tell the Donier what had happened and to inform her that she, her siblings and the children of the dead were leaving.

Kanna didn't bother to dismount, giving only the sketchiest of greetings. Just enough so that the donier would know which Cave had come to disaster over the winter. "Burials didn't happen there, because you lot couldn't decide who to assign to our Cave. Now _many _people are dead and haven't been interred. There are dead bodies wrapped up in skins but still in their shelters. Their elans are loose and looking for revenge on the Cave that was so disrespectful to the dead. We are leaving this territory because you are a bad luck people and we don't want you spoiling _our _luck. _We survived_, after all, so the Mother is obviously looking out for us." She told the woman in an insulting tone that left no doubt as to the girl's opinion of the local Doniers, then she had turned her horse's head and galloped back to the departing children on the hill. Not one of them had ventured downhill, or even looked behind them when the shouts from adults to stop and return rang out. They had enough of a head-start that the other people's horses weren't likely to catch up and six months later were looking at a massive and complicated cave system far to the west in unclaimed territory.

* * *

They knew that there were people that they had respected and liked two weeks back, but they wanted to claim a living-space of their own. That the Yattadonii's leaders and doniers had been horrified by the tale these children had told was an understatement. An adoption ceremony made the Zelandonii youngsters Yattadonii youngsters. Since the eldest of them were fully grown and all the children were the younger siblings of an adult, they were allowed to search for a cave of their own. A specific donier was reserved for them, for when they found a Cave. The number of the Cave was already known because no one else was splitting off or moving that summer. They would be the Eleventh Cave of the Yattadonii...their Donier would be The First Donier of the Eleventh Cave of the Yattadonii.

Roughly, Yattadonii meant The Children of the Mother that live between the Earth and the Sea, the new cave was nicely situated to harvest both. It was understood that once they had selected a dwelling cave, more Yattadonii would join them, a number suitable to the size of the cave and mindful of eventual births. Thirty people were too few, especially since most of them were young children.

* * *

The second earthquake that occurred on the trip back with the meat, changed those plans, abruptly and sharply. On the ride back, once she regained control of her horses, Kanna heard wails and screams on the wind, panicked cries, screams of pain and screams of utter horror and fear. She also hear the sounds of a stampede, thought it was bison, and realized that people had been run over by stampeding bison. Bison weren't deer and didn't react the same way to movements of earth. She would never hunt bison after an earthquake unless she was _following _a stampede. After such a terror driven hard run, they were too exhausted to run away and you could walk up to them where they had collapsed on the ground and take your time spearing the ones you wanted. Eventually, the rest would react to the blood and the death smell, get up and wobble away. You could still pretty much take your pick of those for a few moments until they found the energy to trot. After that, returning to your kills was smarter and after all that if you hadn't killed what you needed by the time the rest of the herd left, that was your own fault, wasn't it?"

But Kanna really had no choice but to turn her horses toward the sounds of those screams. Although the cries of pain had ceased, the rest had not, those had changed to horror and loss, so she knew people had died. She'd heard those kinds of wails enough last winter to know what they were, hadn't she? But lazy idiots at her birth cave were one thing, people caught in a bison stampede while hunting was _another_, at least these people, whoever they were, weren't _lazy_.

She noted they were of the Clan as soon as she topped the rise but that didn't deter her. Three of the children with her group were also clan and as she looked at the scene of destruction and realized all the dead were the hunters...all males, she felt a sinking in her stomach. She sent her bitch for help and rode down to deliver aid. She was a child of a child of a child of Ayla and Jondalar's first born daughter, Jonayla. Each generation had learned to Speak Clan, though this generation was better at it than the last since they actually had Clan people living with them. Well, rescued _children_, but _still_...she had tradition to uphold.

Her eyes sought the waist of every adult female there, finally spotting a young woman bearing the traditional otterskin container of a Medicine Woman. She didn't stop the women from mourning their men, but she did ask questions and got answers. She wasn't happy with what she was told, but she aided in gathering in the Dead for the journey home.

* * *

"The bison that took so many lives were driven to do so by the evil spirits that moved the Earth." The Yattadonii that had been assigned to their cave motioned slowly, once the male donier found her with the women and their children and Kanna explained. "The meat is unlucky and will have to be left for the Good Spirits and the Mother to cleanse it. Only scavengers like wolverine and hyenas can eat it safely, even other hunting animals will be affected by it's evil in bad ways for a while and our hunters must be wary of greater aggression from them. But you women of the clan will come home with us and we will look after you while we attempt to find a cave that has a clan that has a good, level headed, _responsible _leader who has too many hunters and not enough matable women to give to them as mates.

Our cave is a very large cave, it has two major openings and many inner caves and tunnels between them. Kanna wants to give the Clan a section that is connected to ours by tunnels and which has a hard to reach exit to the outside. If you don't know exactly and precisely where it is, you'll never see it. I will perform our kind of burial rites for your men so their spirits do not grow angry at the delay, but later one of your mogurs will have to do it again, to make sure their spirits went to the part of the spirit world that they were supposed to. Until then, their spirits will be the guests of the spirits of our own dead. They will be made comfortable while they wait for a mogur." He motioned.

Kanna nodded. "Our hunters will train your sons, but we can't do that in your traditional ways. We don't know those, so we can only teach them the way _we_ were taught. But it's better than not learning at all and growing a beard while they are yet boys."

The Donier nodded in agreement.

The distraught mates and mothers could only submit, until men of their kind could be found, they had no choice. Not when a male of the Others had ordered what was to be and was a mogur besides.

* * *

The summer meeting discussions over who would move to the massive cave the formerly Zelandonii children had found abruptly got simpler after the addition of the clan women and their children. Once the burials were finished, a rider was sent to the meeting to report on the recent events.

If you had a problem with the Clan...as some still did...you didn't go live with a new cave that had a large number of their women and many of their children living there before you got there. By the time all the withdrawals of those under consideration had been made, those that remained were a good number of people for the settlement. Other people were still discussing it and hadn't yet responded. When the rider returned, he was followed by the new people and was just as glad that the bigots had _not _come.

Upon questioning the dead leader's mate, the details were explained. All the hunters, both Mogurs and both leaders from two very small clans that were considering joining into one decent sized one had been lost. Even two older boys that would have soon been men had died. They were far from both caves and none of the women knew how to get home...the men had the memories for that, not the women.

"Well," She signed, sighing. "Then the only thing you can do is gather up your children and come home with us. Our donier has already told you this. Gather what you have and we will give you part of our cave system to live in...even after we find men for you, your new leader may keep it. There's no reason for it to go unused and we don't have enough people to need it. But it could take a very long time to find a clan for you, I don't know how long you'll be living with us, but we have a very good location. "She reassured them. "There is lots of game for the hunters and a very great deal of the foods your women gather. Since our women are allowed to hunt and you are not, you may take the responsibility of gathering, along with whatever of our people wish to gather instead of hunt, and whatever children of both peoples are sent out to help. Also, there are three orphaned children of the clan who are very young, living with us already."

* * *

"Two are boys and you have a woman with no sons. You also have a woman with no children at all. Since the boys are brothers and the girl isn't their sibling, I am giving the woman that has no sons both of the two boys and the girl to the childless woman. The children are weaned but not for very long...they are _very_ young. When the men get here, they will need names. We _do_ know their totems."

Another woman who had come to help added with rapid, precise motions, "A cave lioness tried to carry the younger boy baby off and we made her drop him with only a few thrown stones. The older boy baby was bitten by a leopard but just enough to leave a good mark...it wasn't trying to kill, only to mark...for it bit lightly and walked away. It was seen."

Kanna turned her attention to the woman who had been the mate of one of the leaders. "The female child had a badger try to drag her off, she will need a strong mate. Our mogur thinks that because the bad spirits have been attacking the clan, good totem spirits are choosing more children so they can defend them. Keep a close watch on any child that doesn't know his or her totem...they are more likely than not to be chosen. If you see a live animal like _your_ totem, you should ask your totem to have the living creature mark your baby, _gently_...until we find men for you, they will need the help."

It was alarming news but it relieved the women who had small infants who _didn't_ know their totems.

Egra also had no sons but since she had been told the mate of the leader that was coming had four sons, she didn't need to cause a conflict of rank with male children. She was being given a daughter, that was _enough_.

* * *

Egra sighed as she worked, it had been three Moons since the evil ones had sent the bison to kill their men, but there was finally word of a clan that was coming. _They _had been looking for another cave anyway, because their's was too small for their clan. It was good news for the Other's mogur said the new clan had too many men. There were not _nearly _enough women for all of them to have mates. It made for a well provisioned clan, but it also meant that the mated women's mates would be loaning them to the unmated males to relieve their needs.

The Others of Seven Cave Rock had been very good to the grieving women and children, seeing to their care and supplying them with green and partly worked hides that they could finish as well as properly worked ones. They had shown the women how to use brains instead of fat for curing hides and the results made for a longer lasting material than fat dressed ones.

They had been taught other things, new things, that were now a part of their memories, how to make and use soap, both regular lye soap and gentler ones that could be scented during the making. They were shown how to make pottery and utensils, fire it and then fire it again once the glazes were added. The finished products were easier to make, use, clean and store than ones made of stone, wood or bone. They were also taught to make and fire bricks in large numbers, which were used to build partitions between and behind each hearth and at the front boundary of the hearth, posts sunk into the dirt floor on each side held up a large piece of mammoth hide, fur side out. Overhead, poles were laid and thatching covered the hearth. There were places for smoke to lift up and drift away but this arrangement kept more heat inside and also made for added privacy. This added to their value.

* * *

They had been adding a pair of _very _large hearths, like the Medicine Woman's, they were intended for many people, though the medicine woman's had sick people instead of well ones. One was the largest and set aside for the Leader. The other was for the mogur. To one side, down a short tunnel, the long dead bodies of their men waited eagerly for a mogur to end their time as guests in someone else's spirit world and send them to their own. The next smallest woman's heart was still very big because she was the woman who had many sons and had never born a girl...she needed the room. She had born four times and had twin boys each time. The oldest pair were just barely old enough for their first spears.

But for the women, it was a nervous time as they worked to provide a feast for the large number of men that were bringing their own few women and children here to adopt all of them.

They had been taught to tame, train and use the strength of horses to carry far, far more than any women could carry which added to the amount of food that could be harvested at one time. They were taught to train wolf cubs which bonded to them and guarded them...though this last was not done until word came that the men were coming. Ranking in a wolf-pack was explained to the women, just as someone who was leading the other clan here had explained it to the men of the clan as well as the women and children. Like people, some wolves stayed home to mind the children and guard the den and others hunted. Cubs did not meet the members of their pack until they were several weeks old and by that time, the new clan would be here.

This cave had smaller storage caves inside it, most were full of the gatherings of the women and preserved meat enough to supply many clans for more than three winters. The Others had given the Clan women hides frequently, though when their men arrived they were off butchering kills in one of the Other's surrounds, with only a few women working at chores at the cave while minding everyone's children.

* * *

"Most of the women went with our hunters this morning. The kills made this day will belong to the hearth of the man who accepts the woman who works the carcass. Our mogurs have driven away the evil spirits that infected the bison and today a large number of bison were hunted successfully in the first bison hunt since the tragedy." The Donier motioned to the Clan Leader that had come. "A few older women and two that are too close to giving birth are in the cave that is to be your's, working at quiet things and minding the children."

"And you have given them wolf cubs that our men can bond with, train and hunt with? Their value as hunters and guards is high."

"Yes." He motioned back to the Leader. "The cubs are of an age where their dam would have begun to bring them out of a den to be introduced to their pack and the Leader of the pack. It will be many moons before they're old enough to hunt, though...they are _very young _cubs, after all."

"Yes. Our First Mogur sent word, also. There are two Horse Spirits. One is Wild Horse and the other is Working Horse. From now on, Spirit of Working Horse is the strongest female guardian totem and may not be hunted. They give us their strength and friendship, but the work they do is women's work. Spirit of Wild Horse is still a man's totem and also prey. If we do not have an agreement with a creature that belongs to Horse Mother, then it is ruled by Wild Horse and may be hunted." He paused to look at his own mogur.

"The marks on the children you had rescued have been examined by our medicine woman and she agrees with the medicine woman of the Lost clans...the boys are Chosen of Cave Lion and Chosen of Leopard, the girl is Chosen of Badger."

"The boys were given to a sonless woman who had three daughters. The girl was given to the former mate of the higher ranking of the two lost leaders, who lost three adult sons in the attack of the evil ones. We did not wish to create a conflict of rank by allowing one of the former mates of either leader to adopt sons. Your mate already has many sons, so we determined it would not be fair to _her first born_ or to your mate." The donier motioned. "You're going to have enough problems with so many new females. There are two women for every person you brought with you, including your clan's children...all of them. Most have at least one child...one woman has birthed pairs of boys several times...the oldest of those boys are ready for their first spears. Since you were so close to them, we told those boys they must wait until their mother is mated and then their mother's new mate would take over their training."

"Wise."

"We have shown your women how to build surrounds and now your men know how and why we use them." One of the lead hunters of the Others commented. "Every other hunt has been for the women you have adopted without even seeing them. The cave is well provisioned."

* * *

Another man of the Others nodded. "It is also huge. There is a massive central area and many, many small caves suitable for hearths along the walls. The females who have the largest numbers of children have those small caves, which are still good sized, as a sign of their worth to a potential mate, since he will own the cave as his hearth when he mates the woman who lives there with her children. The women have put posts on either side of the hearthcave's opening with another pole over the tops of those to hang a large hide from...their new mate will benefit from the rise in status at having a hearth with utter privacy."

"In the rear, there are three very large sub-caves that are not yet used as hearth caves, with more sub-caves inside, one is nearly as big as the main cavern. We forbade the females from entering the biggest of the rear caves because there is a full skeleton of a cavebear in it, with no bones missing. Our mogurs decided it was intended by Ursus for the mogur of your clan to hold ceremonies in. We Doniers have cleansed it and put red stained poles and a red hide that has not been worked or even touched by a female covers the opening to that cave."

He paused to point outward and downward where the returning hunters and the clan's new females could be seen, heavily loaded horses pulled and carried the meat and the women diligently gathered as they moved, adding more stores. The new clan's leader got a good long look at the very large number of women and his hunters could be heard grunting satisfaction. Soon, they would have mates. There were both adult females and half grown ones, the sons of the mated females would have mates as well, when the time came that they needed one.

One of the hunters below halted the line of horses and clan females to gesture up the hill to the large number of men of the clan that stood there, watching them. Even at that distance, male or female, they could hear the cries of relief and joy at the presence of so many men.

"They have been without men for over three moons," A hunter motioned to the mogur who paused and nodded, then informed his leader. The leader nodded. "We will meet them at the new cave. Tell me more about the cave."

"The cave to the right side of that one is well provisioned as is the one on the left, these are intended for the Leader and the Mogur for hearths, since you already have mates and they both have several children. The women have filled each cave with welcoming gifts for your mates. The one on the right is intended for the leader and is slightly larger than the mogur's who will have the ceremonial cave as well. We put asside a Medicine cave, where the Medicine women can keep patients. It has access to the women's cave, the main public cavern and also has three heart caves for themselves that opens to the Medicine cave that they share. This way, sick and injured people or people that are dying of old age and are near death, are set aside in a place where they have quiet and can rest."

"These are good reports, this is good news."

"On the far side of the mogur's hearth is a deep, narrow cave, where bodies can be interred. Those killed by bad spirits were put in an even deeper place, one that has a waterfall from one of the deep rivers that flow underground, that blocks any spirits that linger near the bodies from re-emerging to bother living people."

"The women you have accepted as your own have made a point of filling the hearths they are using with products of their works, to show they are good, useful women. They wish you to be proud that your decision has brought your clan hard workers with great skill, so that their new clan gains rank."

"To the left of the main cavern, is another cave. The opening doubles back a bit so that wind from the hidden opening doesn't get inside, this is the cave of Age and Youth. Only three older females are there, too old for bearing more children but all three have half grown children, sons and daughters both. The more sheltered location eases the infirmities of winter cold. This is also the place where the three women who have new babies and the ones that adopted the three Chosen children live. They have their main hearth for when the children are older, but for now, for the sake of very young infants, they are in a more protected area."

"This is also wise. The elders have many troubles in winter."

* * *

Now the Donier grew grave and serious, gesturing for the females to look away and not see what was being said.

"To the Right is another large cave one reaches by going through a short tunnel and then a smaller cave, where no male should enter. It is the place where women go and live during their moon days. The tunnel represents a journey into the Underworld, women who are due to bleed but which will still be clean for a night and a day, who are transitioning from Clean to Unclean must leave the clan's living cave and go through the tunnel, passing through a fall of cold water to enter the small cave. The water is the barrier that keeps safe the men and boys of the clan. There they put off the garments they wear, all wrappings and put the contents of their amulet in a new pouch which they will find there." The Donier told the mogur. "The new clothing is bloodstained because all the stains of a wounded totem did not come out and reminds her she is a dangerous threat to her clan. At this time, it is best if they feel ashamed. They will remain in the underworld until they are supposed to begin to bleed, then continue to the cave beyond until they cease. Once they start bleeding they are to go naked. They must bathe in the Spirit Water before redressing in the same clothes they took off, to leave, to cleanse themselves."

"If they do not bleed, they must put off the bloody clothes after three days, bathe in the fall of cold water which comes from the spirit world and return to the clan naked, going to one of the medicine women to be examined for pregnancy. They may not wear any clothing until a medicine woman has examined them. If they are faking, a medicine woman will know and expose their treachery."

"If they are faking it, it means that an evil one entered them while they walked the underworld. Do not death curse them, it's not their fault if their totem was too weak to protect them. But they must be punished with shameful and humiliating things until the spirit is too embarrassed at having such a host and leaves her."

"Pain from the fist of a man will not help with this kind of spirit because it wants you to beat her, it want her to be in pain...it will stay in the hope of causing more."

"But instead, you must relieve your needs in her mouth, ordering her to lick and suck your manhood and your testicles until your pleasure comes...if you must enter her body, use her anus. She isn't to be allowed normal uses until the spirit has gone away." The Others lead hunter warned. "We have many children in our cave who are survivors of a possessed Leader...he didn't take his hunters to hunt and they didn't insist the non-hunters gathered. Nobody worked.

All but a handful of children died that winter, those few that had hunted or gathered on their own survived, the rest perished. We will have no lazy people here!"

* * *

"Boys or men that need a severe punishment are also to be used in similar ways, though not in the mouth since the spirit may cause him to bite...punish him in the stone ringed place at the center of the cave so that everyone in the clan may watch. Such as need punishment in this way will be bent over the wall and the real men will stand behind him and push their manhood into his rectum, using him as if he were female, they must relieve their needs in the anus of a punished male at least once a day for a count of seven days. Your mogur will keep track of the days. This is the sign of a punished one, there is no gender indicator because this makes for more punishment. Such males as are used this way should be made to lick the organs and the anus of a low ranked woman who has no value, for her pleasure. This is truly a humiliation." A man with some rank mentioned. "If you with to humiliate him past recovery, make him pleasure a bleeding female. He becomes a Not Man, though he is still not female...he loses all gender identity and has no rank. He must obey women and even children...and can be made to pleasure anyone at all."

* * *

The donier sighed, "Sometimes people punished this way will die, ripped up inside in the guts from the punishment of a man's penis if he is very large. This is how you know they invited a Spirit of Death into them like some of the hunters who died under Bison's hooves had. My colleagues and I were shocked and horrified when we discovered why Spirit of Bison killed the men. Until we found this out, we thought they were guests in our afterlife, but our spirits say, 'no', they are lost and wandering in the place between one world and the next."

The Leader and mogur looked at each other. The leader nodded and the mogur spoke. "Those who were spared committed no wrong. Those that died were judged and executed. We will seal up the cave where the bodies are and curse it...and they will be locked out of our spirit world also and will be Nameless and forgotten. They will do no more evil."

"And that is why the Cave of the Evil Dead is nowhere near the caves of the living and why there is a fall of cold Spirit Water between the cave and the opening. They are kept separated from the living."

"We wish to see the cave you have given to the clan, now. It is time for more pleasant things."

"Reach to the far side of that willow bush next to you and pull the top toward you. The entrance lies behind it."

"Well hidden indeed."

"A cave without men _needed_ to be hidden. Have a medicine woman cut it down now and add it to her supplies, it isn't needed anymore to hide the cave-mouth and it will be in the way."

"True."

_**~*TBC*~**_


	2. New Home, New Mates and New Neighbors

**New Home, New Mates and New Neighbors**

* * *

Leader Brog wasn't terribly happy with sharing a cavern system with the Others, but he had to admit that the part of it they had given to the women and children that they had rescued, was easily a dream come true for _any _clan leader. There were relatively few adult Others, though having learned from the mogur of the local Others about the Bad Luck cave and it's lazy leader, he wasn't surprised that the only survivors had been the good hunters and hard workers. He was a bit surprised that most of those had been _children_. The following Spring, those children had wisely alerted the mogurs of the group of caves they had been born to, then left the region in search of one that had responsible people in charge of it. The oldest looked after the youngest and all had found what they'd been looking for, but after their experience in the cave of their birth, they were determined not to allow other people's poor decisions and laziness determine their fate again...they'd found a place of their own. It was their experience with the kind of suffering brought by bad luck that wasn't their own or caused by anything they had done that had led these Others to welcome the Clan's women and their children.

That they were willing to share it with any in need of a home was commendable. The Stupid, Bad Luck men of their _own _people had been safely sealed away from the living quarters of their former mates and spirit barriers had been put in place by both the Other's mogur and his own. The females had a place in the underworld made for them where they could not endanger the Clan males, was safe from predators and still good shelter. Food and what was needed for sleeping places was taken with them. Because it was underground, there was plenty of stone, so they took carving tools and made new bowls and such that would never leave the Women's Place.

Sometimes a female mogur of the Others entered to make sure the barriers that held the spirit world away from the mortal one were still sound, down there, in the Women's Place. They did this so that no clan male, even the mogur, needed to endanger himself. They didn't come out naked as the clan women must, but they did stop by the Medicine Cave to visit with the Medicine Women...they did that often anyway, often bringing a fresh harvest of some medicine or another, or meat or a green cured hide, or wood of a good size, grain and shape to make into bowls...which no one else needed, to drop it off with the busy Medicine Women, who had twice as much work to do as most of the other women. This was a kindness for the Medicine Women had daughters who were still learning Medicine but which had the time to carve bowls or work hides.

One of the Others hunters had answered him, when he asked why they still supported the clan even though the men were there now, with affection in his odd green eyes, "We are _kin_. You are one kind of human, I am another, but we are both still human. One of our ancient mogurs taught us that long ago, we and the clan had a common ancestor...one that the clan still tells of in your own ancient legends of the time before the clan became clan."

"What ancestor is this?"

"Durc and those who went south with him...we, whom you call Others, are descended from Durc who lived in the time before the Clan became the Clan...before you were clan and we were us: So, we are kin. We treat you like kin, that is all. It is how we are taught. Some learn the lessons better than others do, but every one of my kind of human in these caves understands and accepts that your kind, Leader Brog, are as much my kin as my mother or my brothers." The hunter had shrugged. "We behave accordingly."

That had certainly been a shock, but it explained why they'd shared such a grand cavern system...it was the sort of kindness that family shows to family, nothing less.

* * *

One of the male hunters of the Others stopped a middle ranked hunter of the Clan one day in late spring to invite the clan on a seashore harvesting expedition. "There are two or three kinds of migrating fish, like salmon and sturgeon due in, there are several kinds of seal and if luck is with us, a whale might beach itself, there's a herring run and a crab run, plus there are kinds of smaller deer that need to be hunted. We only go every five or six years and we stay from late spring until it's time for the gatherers to harvest grain. That is many months." Hannock told the clan hunter. "Your wolf pups need to start learning to hunt and that's easier to teach them on the shore where deer are smaller...it's also easier to teach them caution. Poking their noses at a crab or two tends to drive that lesson home...one _pinch_..." He motioned, then the Other's Hunter imitated the _kiyi _sound of a nosed pinched puppy while using his fingers to imitate the motion of a crab's claw closing on a tender black nose.

The hunter, Veck, snorted in amusement. He did not laugh for that wasn't the clan's way, but amusement could be seen in his body just the same. The clan had picked up a few things, like proper moccasins, leggings, tunics and such things, for they were more efficient uses for the hides the men brought their women and kept a person warmer. The moccasins covered the whole foot and the lower part of the leg, to just below the knee.

Brog and his hunters finally understood why the Others put odd designs on the things that they made. One of the Medicine Women had asked during the time they were without men and had later told her new mate...one of the brothers of Brog, a man protected by the Spirit of Mammoth, called Thun. His first mate had died but left him with a young son, weaned, but still very young that his new mate accepted as her own, Second Medicine Woman Ega, one of the adopted women. The Third Medicine Woman was actually the one they had brought with them, for the other one of the rescued Medicine Women was called Igu, and was from an ancient line. He understood that taking the time to do the work meant that the cave was a wealthy one. All the harvests and hunting had provided a massive surplus and everyone had more than enough clothing for the winter...and that meant that there was very little work to do. Carvings, dyeings and other kinds of crafting arose from the boredom that follows when one is well provisioned and there's nothing to do but sleep. Carvings on weapons were the symbols of hunting luck...and the better the carver was, the better the luck would be. When the best carvings were colored correctly, the luck increased again. The designs of shells and brightly colored stones, drilled through and strung on sinew before being sewn onto clothing were pictures of a person's skills and accomplishments so everyone could see it and everyone could understand a person's rank at a glance.

He'd sent two mid ranked hunters to the nearest Gathering to report these things to the Clan and return. They were not due at a gathering this year because of this emergency: But the Gathered Mogurs and Leaders needed to be told. The hunters had returned with the decision that the expressions of visual rank make sense and so wasn't as strange as they'd thought. Apparently, there were some Others at the Gathering that also explained that for women's work...bowls, hides and such, a small design carved into the item could represent her name _I am name-sign mated to name-sign, clan of Leader name-sign _so everyone who saw the item knew who she was, who her mate was and which leader they answered to.

Good work raised her mate's status, poor work lowered it because it meant he wasn't making sure she was as useful as she should be. It was considered by the leaders to be an additional way to make sure all the members of each leader's clan was living up to their responsibilities.

Just having Igu and her three daughters, Agu, Ega and Obra in his clan had raised Brog's status a great deal. Next Clan Gathering, he would give two of her daughters to men in other clans as mates and the daughters of the lesser Medicine Women as well. Each woman's First Daughter would be kept and mated to the sons of the women of his clan, particularly the sons of his original medicine woman. When a leader mated a man whose mother was a medicine woman to another line's medicine woman's trained daughter, any girls were welcome because they would usually be valuable when traded to other clans as high status mates. Two of the younger women had sons who were born to the hearth of the sons of the mates of the higher ranking leader and if their mother's mates had survived, would have one day been leaders themselves. If none of the mates of the sons of his mate had sons, the firstborn of these boys might still be the leader after his mate's son. As it was, they were training up into fine Second or Third ranked hunters for his mate's first son's generation.

They were, of course, still _boys_, not men...but they were learning _very _fast.

* * *

Brog hadn't really believed the Others when they had told him of the sheer number of children that these women had, but it was hard to argue with your own eyes. Some of the older or pregnant women had stayed in the cave with several of the wolves belonging to the others as protective guards for them. This allowed all of the smaller children to be left behind along with nursing mothers and elders to watch them. Even so, there were a _lot _of young, strong, healthy women doing the work that was their duty, working hard, too, proud of the skills they showed the men and the leader. Their body language displayed clearly that they wanted their new mates to be proud of them.

That pride in their skills showed in every motion, saying, "Here am I, working as I should! See how useful I am? See my skill in my chores? Daughters, do not slacken! This is how you do this task to make it faster but still done correctly. My sons, you are not yet men...but you _are _stronger than your female siblings. Take your practice spear for safety and gather wood near the forest edge for the meal I shall make. Tell my mate where you're going so one of the _real _men who are _real _hunters can see that you stay safe."

This was good, females who were skilled and eager at their tasks had higher status. Higher status women raised the status of their mates and that raised _his _status...and together all of them raised the status of their entire clan. He and his men seldom had to cuff the new women, though their own were a bit lazier because they had never gone without a man's protection. The new women showed their value openly because they understood better the value of their new mates.

The spirits had blessed and protected them until _good _men could be brought to replace the bad luck ones. They'd explained this to the Leader's Mate once, when she complained and she had said no more. Nor did the other women, but they understood that these women and their children had gone into danger alone and although afterward, the Others had rescued them, the rescue hadn't come until _after _the stampeded bison were gone.

Several of the children and older babies had been Chosen and Marked by the living examples of Totem Spirits that wanted to help the women while they waited for new men to come. That one baby boy, Chosen of Cave Lion, would one day be a powerful hunter. Because of this, Grud, the first son of the mate of his Second Hunter had mated with the boy's mother. That the Chosen of Lion had a brother that was Chosen of Leopard was another reason, the boys would need a good teacher and Grud was one his best hunters.

He paused for a time to watch as his clan worked together with the Others to make a _massive _harvest possible. One big enough to last for many years. The distance from the Cave to the main portion of the Shore was short, but this was further up the coast and had taken two weeks to reach. The fishing was over, but they also hunted seals, seal lions and a few elephant seals as well as the huge rookeries of nesting seabirds. The smaller deer that Hannock had mentioned were used to teach the older boys to a stalk prey in more open areas, a harder skill to learn, especially with some of the mothers of the boys not far away, down on the beach harvesting clams for tonight's dinner. Women were loud and scared off game. The rest of the women were harvesting seabirds in the rookeries near the shore.

* * *

Younger, lower ranking males of every breed swarmed the nesting sites of their kind, hoping to steal a mate from another male. The women waded into the nesting colonies and after a moment to chose the fattest, grabbed the bachelor males by the neck, wrung it and added the bird to a deep bellied collecting basket while another, filled with straw, was used to harvest newly laid eggs from the easier to reach nests on the outer edges of the colonies.

It was a _good _thing that women of the Others were usually present with the women of the clan, Brog thought later, after it was over. The men were too far away to be of any use, when the big bear showed up. It was was grizzly, a young male and it wanted the blue footed booby colony to itself. One of the Others' women had merely snorted a denial of the bear's opinion and had used one of her throwing spears to place a dart in each of it's eyes, killing it immediately. As was her habit, she removed the darts, then gave the carcass to a woman who she knew needed the hide for her son whose Totem was Grizzled Bear. He didn't yet have a token from his totem.

"The hide, the largest claw and largest tooth for your son. The hide for his sleeping place and the tooth for his amulet, the claw he can wear around his neck to display it when he's older." Bera had told Voga, and the rest of the bear for your own stores, not the cave's, because it's the first Grizzled Bear since your son's Totem was named, that has been hunted and killed. Your mate will be expected to decide what to do with the rest of the teeth and all of the bones, but the meat is for your own family. Bury the liver in the place that most of the blood has pooled on the sand...or tell your mogur that I told you to do so. He will understand why and might want to honor Bear in some other way. Grizzled Bear is eating mostly fish and berries this time of year, but I don't trust that liver yet...I think it's still too early in the year."

* * *

Brog sighed, the gifts increased the boy's status while he was still nursing.

The bear hide, a claw for a display piece and a tooth for his amulet was a gift for the still nursing boy baby with the bear totem, the woman was given the meat, her mate was given the teeth and bones...and Bera had continued gathering eggs and birds as though nothing important had occurred.

Kin, Brog thought. Their ways were very different from the ways of the clan, often very strange. But also some of their ways were easily understood...Bera considered the clan kin, giving a large bear to a woman who had a son who needed a token of that kind of bear was an act of kindness by a hunter for a woman who was kin. It was nothing less than an ordinary thing for the female hunter of the Others, nothing to be dwelled upon or anything. Nothing special. Those that didn't hunt had needed protection and afterward the animal had gone to the woman who needed it most.

Kin. Brog sighed. It was difficult to get used to such a notion but in every line of their bodies they could see that to the Others, Bera's action was considered the only correct one. SHE didn't need the bear, either it's meat or the hide. She had enough bear hides and meat stored away. It was birds and eggs she wanted and once the bear had been killed and given to Voga, it was for Voga to butcher the bear...not Bera.

Voga was one of the women that had been born to Brog's clan, she had never been given such largess but she understood from the new women's body language that this wasn't anything new, that she was considered a cousin and one who needed the bear. She set her baskets aside and drew out a sharp handknife to begin to process the large bear with two other women...sisters...stopping to assist her. The mogur had been told of Bera's advice concerning the liver and had indeed had a Clan tradition that concerned the keeping livers of bears too early in the year. He agreed with Bera that the liver was still likely to be poisonous and disposed of it himself.

* * *

As the sun set on the last day on this part of the beach, the hunters that had been sent with half the women, all the females loaded down with heavy burdens back to the cave two weeks before, returned with them. Unlike the trip back, their baskets were mostly empty, intending to fill them and start filling the travois and pannier baskets of their mares as soon as they got back. The rest of the women and different men would depart at dawn to take back more harvested foods to be put away by the childminders at home.

The men mostly traveled a bit higher up the beach, leaving the wet sand near the water untrampled for the women who were raking up clams to harvest as they moved. The adults had eaten, but the children were being fed fresh clams and sometimes oysters, by their mothers whose strong hands easily popped the hinges on the shellfish and used one half of the shell to scoop out the soft-bodied animal inside.

Two days of rather pleasant travel later and a large beached whale provided a massive harvest that took many days to complete, along with many trips with loads of preserved meat and blubber back to both caves. After the whale, the leaders of both caves consulted and the Others changed the direction of travel a bit, starting a long curve by following a particular river upstream. Eventually, this river, they told Brog, would have them within eye-shot of the cave. But there was much hunting and harvesting to do before they got that far. And they had to wait until the clan hunters returned with the last group of women.

* * *

By the time the last hunt was done and the last bits of plant, root, seed or fruit had been plucked and they wearily entered their caves., there was a decided chill in the air and the next morning showed frost on the vegetation when people went outside. Now the women and children gathered only one thing...wood. There was a huge surplus of food and hides, great variety were in stores...but wood needed stockpiling. First they gathered enough for the day...and then they gathered enough that day to last a week. That was the habit the lost women had gotten into until the men came. Anything not needed for heat would be worked into bowls or other things. Male children who were old enough were put to hauling large chunks of sandstone or flat river rocks back to their mother's mate's hearthcave while females worked with their mothers. There was still quite a bit to harvest, though, from the food plants and also from snares set to catch rabbits and other small animals, and the half grown girls were put to doing that while adults and younger girls gathered wood. In this way, both resources were used.

When the first flake of snow drifted down to begin to cover the ground one night, one of the women saw it and gestured to several others to help her hang the barrier over the mouth of the cave. The new women watched, confused as a hide covered wooden frame was attached to two posts that had always been on either side of the door, so that it swung from one, to open and close. Another woman brought two flat, long, thick pieces of wood and laid each in a bracket set in the posts...the new women understood immediately. This barrier kept out the wind. The flat boards kept the barrier closed but could be removed to go out. They were shown the place a second woman left two more boards and they hung a second barrier on the outside, tying the first shut, then the second.

"If the boards lie over the outside barrier and the inside one is tied closed, nobody is in the cave. If the boards lie over the inside barrier and the outside one is tied closed, nobody is outside. Do not tied a barrier and bar the other _unless you know where everyone is_." One of the medicine women told the rest of the women. "When everyone is in the cave and the outer barrier is tied shut and the inside one is boarded closed, it is much, much warmer inside the cave."

The mate of the former leader nodded. "Summer weight clothing is enough, once the barriers are closed to the outside and all the tunnels. Food lasts longer when no one is cold."

* * *

**~*~TBC~*~**


	3. Life Goes On

Summary: Brog learns that people are people, wherever you go. He also learns that the Others that live on the other side of the Tunnels are more than willing to help his clan prepare to first attend and then host the next Clan Gathering.

A/N: I'm falling asleep at the computer...spelling errors can wait for fixing until I wake up in the morning.

* * *

_**Life Goes On**_

* * *

Charay was very proud of himself as he lugged his struggling, squalling prize toward the Clan side of the hill and headed uphill toward one of the men. The sharp-eyed hunter realized immediately what the boy of the Others was bringing to him and shouted for his leader, trotting down to relieve the youngster of a rather unhappy male cave bear cub that was almost bigger than the child that was trying to carry it. The Others who had claimed his clan as kin and given them what was easily the best cave his clan could have imagined because of that, were well aware that if they didn't get a male cave bear cub soon, they'd have to pass on the chance to hold the Gathering when it was their turn. They had only just gotten back from a summer away, this summer had been the Gathering held at leader Froog's cave.

"Did I do well?" The boy motioned anxiously after the leader and the mogur had retrieved the cub in joy. Now they wouldn't have to send a runner to the next leader in line to have a chance to have the ceremony at his cave. As the mogur's apprentice carried the young cub away, with the cub's scruff in a gentle but powerful grip by now as the men were converging on the pair. Brog nodded reassurance to the boy that had brought him. He was male, it was fine for him to bring the cub. The mogur had to perform a private ceremony of consecration for the cub to _this _clan before it could be brought out to be raised by the women, but for now his assistant would handle the cub because Brog motioned for him to remain, so he stayed with the boy who had brought the cub and the curious men of his clan.

"All the others in the litter were female and the mother should not have been bred for this season. She is _very _old and well known to our side of the caves. I thought maybe the great huge hunny lover made her do it so you'd have a male cub. My sisters took the female cubs to the other side to raise and then release because there's not many of this kind of bear left in this area and most of the ones here are half grown males." The boy shrugged. "We thought that three more healthy adult females might make a good addition to the population of breeders in these parts, in a few years." His voice was still a little uncertain as was his body language. He was younger than he looked for his height, Brog and Vug knew.

His clan had discovered that the straight, unbent legs of the others made their children _seem _to be older because they were taller. However, his clan now knew they matured more slowly than clan children did and later in life. While clan members became adults by the time they were ten years old, or so, he knew this boy wouldn't be judged a man until he was _much _older than that. He judged the boy to be in his second year of hunting lessons...but the Hunters of the Others had to learn far more than just hunting. Over the five years they had lived here, the sheer volume of things that the Others, male and female, had to know to be counted as adults _still _made his head spin.

"You did very well." Brog told the child. "Both you and your siblings did well. The female cubs will be needed and the female, you said, is elderly? She might not be alive long enough to teach them."

"She was sleeping like winter sleep, the cubs were nearby. She stopped breathing as soon as my sisters left with the female cubs and I picked up the male."

"Then this was ordained to be by Ursus. You are correct." The mogur motioned. "He approves of the alliance between our clan and your's. Otherwise, the cubs would have been shown to one of our men instead of to young children of the Others."

This made sense, the men agreed and one or two that had been less welcoming of the change relaxed. Orders of the Great Cave Bear were to be accepted and not argued with. The Great Bear knew what he was doing.

"I need to go home and let our oldest sister know I delivered the cub to you. We gave him a temporary name that isn't really his, but you can use it until it's time to use his real one. Crod is his false name."

The mogur got an odd look in his eyes as he sought the spirits. "They agree. Every cave bear cub the clan raises will be called Crod, it is a title of sorts but it is not his real name. It is the name of the mortal spirit of his kind, but only when he is mortal. The spirit bear has other names, real ones." He said finally, as he returned his attention to the leader and the hunters. "This child of the Others has been given _much _knowledge."

Brog frowned at the boy. "Do you have a totem?"

"Yes, when I was two summers, a female of the same sort as Crod's dam bit my leg, see? _Here _is the scar." He pulled up his legging to show an old scar...one delivered by a _cave bear_. He was _marked_, Chosen by _Cave Bear_. The men of this clan sucked in a breath in awe. He was _a Chosen of Ursus_, but a child to a woman of the Others. _No wonder the spirits approved of the alliance!_

"What is your name?"

"Charay, though most of the clan calls me Char because it's easier for you to say."

"Char would be your clan name."

"Yes."

"We are grateful, you have raised our rank, confirmed my wisdom to the leaders of my people, our region's most powerful mogur and proved the Other's claim of Kinship to the Clan. My entire clan, male and female, young and old, owes you a kinship debt, but we already owed one. I must, in honor and decency, accept this cave of Others and those who claimed it, those born here, as my _personal _kin, though distant."

"I will tell the Donier, that is the man of our's that you call a mogur. He will know what to do." He shifted uncertainly. His eyes flickered at the setting sun and Brog nodded. "I will escort you home. Walking is closer from here than the tunnels."

"I am grateful. I didn't fancy a walk in the dark alone."

"You _are _very young, that is true." Brog called for a hunter to bring him a spear or two and then headed toward the cave of others, guarding the young male child as he took the boy home. He and his cave owed this child a great deal, now. "You are Chosen of Ursus, true...but you are also still just a child."

* * *

"Prood, prepare for a journey, gather Ock and Waad, I am sending three runners, to First Leader Crut and to the First Mogur of the clans. When you have supplied yourselves, come to me and I will give you the message you are to take." Brog said decisively, when he returned. "Ursus has Chosen a child of the same cave of Others who claim all of my clan..._including _myself, as distant kin. The same cave of Others claim that all Others are the children of the women who went with Durc and his men in the days _before _we were Clan. He agrees! This must be made known! My rank has risen since bringing my clan here. It rose again at the Clan Gathering, only two clans rank higher than my clan. This news will raise my ranking and my clan's ranking even higher!"

He had _already_ experienced a nice surprise when he had brought his clan home, the storage caves were full of preserved food...meat and vegetation, both. There were pelts and skins in their storage places as well as in neat piles of rolled up hides just inside the hearthcaves of the higher ranking men, or the boundary stones of the ordinary hunters. More were in neat stacks along with other things a hearth needed in new heart areas...unused and unclaimed, the sigal of 'visitor's heart' was etched on the part of the boundary where there was a line of pebbles, laid in a trench dug there for that purpose. It maintained the boundary but you didn't have to step over large stones to get in or out. He liked the idea and told the clan's women to study how it was done, then repeat it at all hearths still using large stones.

* * *

The point was that, while the clan had been gone, their kin had watched their cave and made sure they had the same level of supplies when they got back from the Clan Gathering as they would have if they had stayed there all season. They would still hunt, but it wasn't the pressing need it would have been had they not had _kin _nearby. Next season would be the Long Journey to the coast with the Others. The younger women, the unmated ones, and older girls often went with women of the others to the shore for a few days, but though they never failed to bring back a delicious bounty, it wasn't the huge harvest that was made every five years. They would have gone the season past, but the Clan Gathering had been more important. Instead, the cave of Others had made a long trek to distant forests for the products found only there. The clan's women had been ecstatic to see large, round sections of wood of the right sizes to make bowls for eating or cooking or other utensils. This was a rich cave, but though there _were _a gracious plenty of small, scattered woodlands, the _deep_ forests were too far away unless you wanted to spend months with the whole cave along to harvest it.

The Others had brought back sections of hardwood, oak and walnut, and enough nuts, his mate had reported, for more than one winter. There were smaller pelts of the forest animals and in every heart where there was a woman who had just had her first child there were many things made from wolverine fur, intended to keep the baby safe from chills. The women who had been in the Undercave when the clan left for the Gathering had been disappointed, but it couldn't be helped. They stayed behind to care for the elders who couldn't make the trip. The cave's younger wolves, old enough to hunt but not well trained enough to leave an unknown, adult cavebear alone, were also left.

The majority of the clan's horses were taken, those not carrying the gifts for the host clan would be heavily laden on the trip home. Between the burdens of the women and horses and the supplies laid in while they were gone, this was going to be a very comfortable winter.

* * *

Experience with horses and wolves allowed Brog's clan to train the cub quickly, leaving him uncaged for his years with them. He went with the females when they gathered and with the wolves, guarded them from harm. He spent a winter's sleep in the Women's Cave in his third winter, watching them during their isolation each moon. He did what he was supposed to do and _observed_.

Not until the first of the arriving clans were seen by the lookouts did they put him in the odd cage build for him. There were two, the traditional one for the ceremony and one built into an alcove like indentation along the outside west wall of Brog's cave. This allowed him to get out of the sun and if it rained, he could get into it and stay dry as well, Brog explained to the other leaders. Those powerful men only nodded. It made sense to show Ursus honor and respect...after all, they'd provide for a human to get out of the weather, wouldn't they?

* * *

The Others Brog claimed as kin took a few hunters from each clan, and most of their women to the coast for an extra Long Harvest. They had been on one with Brog's clan three seasons earlier, but this was a special occasion and allowed all the clans at the gathering to experience the tremendous load bearing potential of the horses. Brog's clan had more Working Horse animals than any other clan and this long Harvest showed why.

The other leaders discussed Brog's clan's long Harvest, it was the Hunt presented to the other clans as competition and that was why the Others had taken women and hunters from each clan for an extra one. They could see it for themselves, experience it for themselves, gain the bounty of seafood and meat enough to last each clan for at least two winters...and it required the participation of most of the clan to make it possible.

The huge colonies of nesting birds were greeted with happy cries from the women...here was meat in plenty, all one needed to do was grasp a bird by the neck and wring it. The men, too, greeted the seals and walruses and sea lions in satisfaction...so long as one took younger, immature males or waited until the beachmaster was in a battle before spearing females in the head or killing the young ones for dinner that evening, kills were made in moments and their prey was too clumsy and slow to escape their spears.

* * *

The women spent weeks butchering and drying the meat from the colonies of sea mammals and birds. A man could walk through the sea bird colonies and take eggs for a light snack, as he decided which part of a sea lion's harem was going to be fewer in number at sunset than it had been at sunrise.

Brog's Hunt was a long, slow, leisurely hunt, took the entire season, actually...but it supplied Brog's clan with years worth of dried meat and stored fat in one hunt. Brog's clan didn't run out of fat during the late winter months as other clans did and Brog's cave was nearest to the sea.

Char's position as a Chosen of Ursus was discussed as well as the now young man's proficiency as a hunter. Their medicine women had a better understanding of the differences in the skeleton of the Others and it was a key difference in the shoulders and the way they fit that allowed the long casts, the thrown spears that killed prey from a distance that kept hunters out of striking distance by animals.

Brog's Clan led another hunt, when it was decided that another, higher ranking clan had tied in the major Hunt telling. Taking only the leaders, their second and third hunters and their mates to process the kills, Brog led them to stampede a herd of bison into a waiting surround. Clan surrounds were longer but narrow, so that the jabbing spears could kill easily from outside the fences. In one hunt, instead of a single kill, hundreds of youngish bachelor bulls and young cows not yet of an age to breed had been killed, providing the Clan Gathering with a feast and the participating clans with needed winter stores and hides.

The women of Brog's clan had traded knowledge of how to build and use a ground kiln, as well as the ways they used to create stone platters and plates and bowls. The 'doors' over the exterior was added to the memories of the stranger women. The mogurs loved the way Brog's clan separated their women during the dangerous time when they bled, by removing them behind a wall of spirit water.

With their skills and the ridiculous ease his hunters provided from so many women, Brog's clan had won first place by the end of the gathering his clan hosted...and Others _were_ considered kin. The rank of his clan made him effectively the leader of the clan for his area.

It was late summer before a child rider brought news that their Clankin had mostly departed. The others had done much work in the clan's cave, thick mammoth pelts covered the floors in all the hearths with a cooking pit laboriously carved from the stone floor in the center. This alone, the women claimed, made life easier for everyone and the ring of large, square stones around it, made it easier to keep from tripping over it. Another summer drew to a close as Brog basked in the highest of high ranks for his region.

Life was good.

* * *

**TBC**


End file.
